THE SURGERY, LITTLE LONDON, WALSALL, WS1 3EP

PATIENT INFORMATION LEAFLET

Practice complaints procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know.  We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints.  Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be resolved quickly and easily, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally within a matter of days, or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.  If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

•	Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
•	Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to the Complaints Co-Ordinator, Gayna Tapper or Sue Millward.  The Complaints Co-Ordinator will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.  It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

What we shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into the complaint within ten working days of the date when you raised it with us.  We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.  When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

•	Find out what happened and what went wrong.
•	Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this.
•	Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate.
•	Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

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Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality.  If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have his or her permission to do so.  A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to NHS England

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our complaints procedure.  We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.  But this does not affect your right to approach NHS England if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact:

Complaints Team, NHS England
NHS England PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Telephone Number 01138 247241 or 0300 3112233
Or email address: england.contactus@nhs.net

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome you may refer the matter to:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Telephone number: 0345 0154033
Or email address: www.ombudsman.org.uk

NHS Choices for complaints to other NHS organisations
Website www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/complaints